by Mike McBride
When Exile McBride – the famous Irish freedom crusader – fled Ireland in 1864 to avoid persecution from the British, he came to the United States. Of the countless locations throughout America where Exile could have settled, he chose the small town of Brockport, New York. Why did he sail all the way from Ireland, end up traveling down the Erie Canal, and finally exit in Brockport? Was he sick, did he get lost, or possibly run out of money? Why was Brockport Exile’s final destination?
As Exile’s great-nephew, I have given 24 presentations on his incredible life story and am also completing a book. Until recently, I had only been able to speculate on this lingering question of why he chose Brockport. However, this mystery would soon be solved when I received a phone call from Kevin O’Brien, a professional genealogist in Buffalo.
Kevin had been researching the McBride family tree. He mentioned that he had discovered some McBride family members who settled in Brockport. They had apparently done so many years before Exile arrived from Ireland in 1864. Kevin also stated that if I could possibly locate one of their old graves, that it would really help “lock things up.”
Excited to find one of these old family members’ graves, I anxiously asked Kevin what cemetery I would be going to for my search. Kevin said this might be extremely difficult since it was known as the Old Catholic Cemetery. This cemetery was listed as having been abandoned as it closed way back in 1891 because of flooding. It was reportedly in terrible condition. The location was off East Avenue, not far from Brockport’s Seymour Library. I realized that my chances of success locating and identifying a McBride grave were probably minimal. However, I was certainly willing to try.
Driving to the cemetery, I went by the unmarked entrance a few times before discovering a poorly defined opening. It was very secluded by high grass and brush. As I started hiking through seemingly jungle-like conditions, I felt like I was on a safari. I was carrying mosquito repellant, a shovel, a broom, hedge clippers, and water for cleaning. Soon, I began to wonder if I was lost since there were no indications of a cemetery anywhere. I then spotted a sign in a distant clearing; it read “Old Catholic Cemetery, 1847-1891.”
This was definitely an abandoned cemetery in complete shambles. It looked like a gravestone junkyard, with almost all of the stones either broken, unreadable, or covered up. This environment would have been the perfect setting for a spooky Halloween movie.
I thought to myself that this would truly be a hopeless exercise in futility. You might call the situation a “grave matter.” However, there were still a few intact and potentially identifiable stones. As I was trying to clean off these possibilities, I noticed one partially buried in the ground. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the name “McBride.” Wow, I felt like I was on an archaeological dig.
The date and names that I found made sense, and I continued shoveling off the dirt and then washed the stone clean. The engraving mentioned Catharine McBride, who died in 1867, as being the wife of James McBride. This information supported and reinforced Kevin O’Brien’s McBride family genealogy findings. It had linked James and Catharine McBride, as Exile’s uncle and aunt. They also had three children – Exile’s cousins – who had grown up in Brockport.
I knew many Irishmen had worked on the Erie Canal only a generation earlier. They frequently settled in new canal towns such as Brockport. There was a good chance that James McBride had been one of these laborers.
Whatever the case, Exile definitely had family members already living in Brockport before he fled Ireland. It was no coincidence that he chose to settle in Brockport after traveling all the way from Ireland. As Exile became established, he eventually brought his parents and siblings to Brockport.
I am extremely fortunate to have solved this Brockport mystery and am most appreciative to Kevin O’Brien. It was also incredible that the vital wording I needed was on one of the few remaining gravestones when almost all of the other gravestones were in shambles! Perhaps I also had a little “Luck of the Irish” inside this abandoned cemetery.
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